The cumulative Covid death rate in Scotland remains the same as 7 days ago at 226 per 100 000 but the rate in England continues to climb from 302 per 100 000 (34% higher) to 305 per 100 000. The gap, which has been widening since April 2022, has now grown to 35%. The explanations will be complex but given Scotland’s lower life expectancy level and problems with alcohol and drugs, must be attributed, at least in part, to more effective health care, government. The BMJ offered this explanation in March 2022: Researchers believe one of the main factors behind … Continue reading Conservative Government fails to stem tide of Covid deaths

From BBC Scotland in the last hour or so: The ONS Covid infection survey estimates an average of 107,300 people were infected on any given day in the week up to 24 October – that’s about one in 50 people. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-53511877 In a long piece there’s no mention of the other nations. The ONS has it: 2.43% in England (1 in 40 people) 2.38% in Wales (1 in 40 people) 2.17% in Northern Ireland (1 in 45 people) 2.04% in Scotland (1 in 50 people) https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19/latestinsights Scotland has the lowest Covid infection rate in the UK but it’s clearly not in the public interest to … Continue reading Scotland has lowest Covid infection rate in UK by some way

A lesson in how to misrepresent – a BBC exemplar? By stewartb Sometimes the BBC seems to surpass itself for misrepresentation. But maybe it’s just me – see what YOU think! I think the ‘method’ in play here is as follows: a journalist reports statistical evidence for a small number of standard performance metrics for three distinct organisations; in most of the report the statistics for each of the three organisations are aggregated – summed; the negative story this creates is given prominence throughout the report; negatively framed observations are made in ways that imply a similarity – a similarly … Continue reading Cancer treatment: Barely half as many wait longer than 62 days in Scotland’s hospitals

From BBC Scotland today: The number of falls and bed sores recorded in Scotland’s hospitals has increased since the Covid pandemic, new data shows. NHS staffing pressures and the deconditioning effect of the Covid lockdown creating more frail patients are being blamed for the rise. The Scottish government paused work on a national prevention strategy for falls when the pandemic started. The strategy has now been shelved and experts argue this is a mistake. Figures released by NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) show that in 2018-19 – the last full year before the Covid pandemic – a total of 26,489 … Continue reading Hospital falls return to pre-pandemic level

There is one mention of NHS Scotland in the above but, of course, no comparison. From BBC Health today: Spending in this area rose by 20% last year to hit £3bn in England. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-63588959 From STV in August 2022: Expenditure on locum agency nursing staff amounted to £92,295,816 in 2021-22. https://news.stv.tv/scotland/nhs-scotlands-eye-watering-bill-for-agency-nurses-topped-92m-last-year#:~:text=NHS%20Scotland%20has%20spent%20more,%C2%A347%2C627%2C338%20the%20previous%20year. Regulars know where I’m going. England has 10 times the population so, all things being equal, should have been spending around £920 million. NHS England spent £3 billion, more than three times as much pro rata. As for the agency charging £2 500 a shift: While the majority of … Continue reading NHS England requiring THREE TIMES as many agency staff than NHS Scotland

The Herald’s images department head boy (14) dig ups another Nicola/Upset pic from their archives, to adorn another complete misrepresentation of reality by their lead Nicola obsessive since Macwhirter left, Tom Gordon. None of it is true. It’s a nationwide poll of civil service workers with no reported breakdown to tell us how the Scottish members voted. So, you can say Sunak’s officials vote for strike action. Why didn’t Tom Gordon go for the more accurate headline? A problem with younger competent women telling him what to do? Reading too much Jordan Peterson? Continue reading A new ‘Sturgeon’ low by Tom Gordon?

The Herald’s Martin Williams, on a run of ferry exposures, trumps: SNP-led council calls for police probe over Scots ferry fiasco deal It’s true, they did. The Cons and Labour, not big enough in more than one sense of the word to run services, ambushed the minority SNP administration in North Ayrshire, with a Labour motion to report that SNP Government to the polis. It’s the same story stretched across three Herald reports. You can read my previous explanations here: and here: To be fair to the councillors, they’re probably more dim than nasty. They were told to do this … Continue reading Two North Ayrshire Labour councillors push motion to betray Scottish shipyard workers

In the Herald today with a sad wee ‘but’: The above nestled in a set of accusations, headlined Police not investigating Scots ferry fiasco despite complaints, from the Scottish Cons and, apparently, the SNP minority administration in North Ayrshire. The motion was laid before the council by a Labour councillor and the SNP depute leader opposed it. I take it the SNP was outvoted and then obliged to follow the decision. Police Scotland will, no doubt, have been directed to the the lack of a builder’s refund guarantee in the contract awarded to Ferguson Marine, to make sure the work … Continue reading SNP Government cleared of any wrong-doing on ferry contract by Police Scotland

In the Herald today: Leaving aside the deep and dark irony of a so-called socialist attacking a deal to save jobs and shipbuilding facilities and to enable a Port Glasgow yard to develop a head-start on LNG ferries (link below), this builder’s refund guarantees business is a nothing and they probably know it is but will use it to attack the SNP he hates for replacing him and his party. We saw in April, just how sleekit Scottish Labour can be when even the GMB could take no more of it. What is the ‘normal builder’s refund guarantee?’ The purpose … Continue reading Scottish Labour betrays the shipyard workers of Scotland, again

Image: Liverpool Echo By stewartb The latest A&E waiting times data for NHS England, for the month of October, have just been published (10 November). It’s become a regular past-time to use these occasions to examine BBC editorial standards – for accuracy, completeness, impartiality, and proneness to bias by omission – in the different nations of what BBC news journalists typically refer to as ‘the nation’ of the UK. Candidly, as regular readers of TuS will know, it proves to be ‘an education’! This is the official source: ‘A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions October 2022 Statistical Commentary’ (https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/Statistical-commentary-October-2022-cftre1.pdf Worst on … Continue reading Worst waiting times on record…..in NHS England! Be alert – this is the BBC reporting!